The Common Bottlenose Dolphin – Tursiops Truncatus – Ρινοδέλφινo

When we think of dolphins, consciously or not, this is the species that is most likely to come to mind.

The bottlenose dolphin is the most coastal cetacean species in the Mediterranean Sea and is present in most or all portions of the Greek Seas.

It is the most familiar dolphin species because of its coastal occurrence and its unfortunate prevalence in dolphinaria and zoos.

The Ionian Dolphin project explains that because of their coastal distribution they are also more negatively affected in numerous ways by anthropogenic impacts such as, incidental mortality in fishing gear, prey depletion caused by overfishing, boat disturbance, pollution and habitat degradation.

These are robust animals measuring up to 3.4 metres long and weighing around 300 kg when fully grown, which is somewhat shorter than their counterparts in oceanic populations. Their colour pattern is typically a dark grey back with light grey sides and a near-white belly. Older animals often have scars inflicted by other animals, including rake marks caused by other dolphins’ teeth. Source:www. http://ioniandolphinproject.org/species-guide/